When Joy Lynn Risker agreed to marry Sean Goff and live under the same roof with his wife, she had no idea that only 7 years later, she would be found in the desert, now just a skeleton.
Love for a Married Man
Joy Lynn Risker was born and raised in Michigan, USA, and described by those around her as a vibrant girl. Her father left when she was young, leaving Joy and her mother to rely on each other.
Joy immersed herself in wild parties with friends in the 1990s before being encouraged by her mother to join an organization. There, the 16-year-old met Sean Goff, a charming and handsome man. Sean held a significant position in the organization and showed an interest in Joy.
Joy’s mother was delighted when Sean entered their lives, believing he could guide Joy away from the party lifestyle.
Initially, this seemed true. Joy joined the youth group to be closer to Sean. Somewhere along the line, Sean became a father figure to Joy, replacing the one missing from her life. Eventually, Joy even became Sean’s personal assistant, and the two became inseparable.
Soon after Joy turned 18, Sean invited her to live with him, even though he was living with his wife Sheila. Sheila, who always stood by her husband, seemed happy to welcome Joy. In return, Joy agreed to help care for the couple’s newborn.
But in 1997, a year after Joy moved in, Leif Wright, a friend of Sean’s, received an email from Sean accidentally attached with a letter intended for someone else.
The Secret in the Letter
In the letter, Sean revealed that he had secretly married Joy and maintained a polygamous arrangement in their home. Each wife lived in a separate room, and Sean would rotate between them.
This was illegal behavior that could damage Sean’s position in the organization. Upon discovering this, Leif Wright issued an ultimatum that if Sean didn’t confess to the organization, he would. When Sean persisted in marrying Joy, Leif exposed the secret, and Sean was subsequently expelled from the organization.
Family and friends of the couple were shocked and concerned, but no one could change Joy’s mind. Joy insisted to her friends, “He has a kind heart and is a good person.”
Meanwhile, Sheila also agreed to her husband taking another wife, taught to believe that men are the ultimate authority.
In 2000, Joy and Sean welcomed their first child together. But just a day after Joy gave birth, her mother passed away. With no other choice, Joy had to rely more on Sean and Sheila, becoming increasingly isolated.
The Secret relationship
A year later, Joy gave birth to their second child. Friends occasionally saw her, but Sean was always present. At a wedding, friends noticed Sean’s controlling behavior and his dominance over Joy to an alarming degree. That was the last time they saw Joy before she disappeared in September 2003.
The Last Time Friends Saw Joy Lynn Risker was in September 2003. After that, they suddenly had no news of Joy. Concerned, they contacted her husband, Sean Goff, to inquire. He said that on September 19, 2003, Joy had left him and their children to run away to Europe, and he was distraught.
Friends and relatives didn’t believe Joy would abandon her children like that. Although things between her and Sean were rocky, and she was considering leaving him, the sudden nature of what happened made them worried.
Finally, feeling unconvinced, they reported Joy missing on October 5, 2003 but did not inform law enforcement that she was in a polygamous relationship.
Shortly afterward, the police investigated and found that Joy’s phone had stopped working around 9:30 p.m. on September 19. They also knew she didn’t have a passport, so she couldn’t have left the country.
When investigators in San Diego, California, questioned Sean, he told them a similar story about Joy packing up to run away to Europe and claiming she was involved with her ex-boyfriend.
A few days later, Joy’s friends received emails from her account, stating she had run away with her ex and needed time away. But not everyone believed those emails were from Joy.
The Suspicious Husband
Investigators looked into Joy’s ex-boyfriend living in Massachusetts and found he hadn’t been in contact with Joy for years. Now, San Diego police knew they needed to find Joy immediately and decided to intensify the search efforts.
Police reviewed phone records and discovered Joy’s last call was to Sean on the evening of September 19, 2003, but he kept this information from authorities. Later, Sean changed his story, saying the couple had dinner together before an argument ensued. He claimed the last time he saw Joy was the next day when she left in a car with two suitcases.
Amid rising suspicion against Sean, investigators eventually learned from Joy’s friends that Sean had another wife named Sheila. From there, they questioned if Sheila was involved in Joy’s disappearance.
Speaking to the police, Sheila said she was on a weekend getaway to Santa Barbara with their three children when Joy disappeared. She claimed Sean arranged this trip to have a special time with Joy.
Feeling the heat from the investigation, Sean went to the police station to try to explain. Once again, his story changed. This time, he said Joy had an accident at home and “died.”
When asked about the location of Joy’s body, Sean requested a lawyer. Authorities arrested him for partially confessing but couldn’t yet charge him with murder. They had only 72 hours to gather evidence against Sean.
Calculated Crime
In the next interrogation, Sheila – Sean’s first wife, confessed that while she was in Santa Barbara with their children, Sean called to say Joy would not be living with them anymore and had an accident. Sean then asked his obedient wife to help clean up the blood when she returned. Authorities concluded that due to years of manipulation by her husband, Sheila believed almost everything he said.
Police confirmed cell phone signals and receipts showed Sheila was in Santa Barbara when Joy disappeared. They believed Sheila was not involved in Joy’s disappearance.
While Sean was in jail, Sheila agreed to let the police search the house. Here, they found evidence of blood in some rooms as well as crucial evidence on the computer. The emails sent to Joy’s friends all came from Sean’s computer.
Investigators formally charged Sean with murder, but without the victim’s body, they faced an uphill battle to secure a murder conviction.
Continuing their investigation, the police sifted through Sean’s credit card records and discovered he had purchased some suspicious items at a metal shop, including a hacksaw, shovel, chisel, sledgehammer, and tarp. These items had all gone missing. Police believed Sean had premeditated his wife’s murder.
Investigators also found Sean had rented a car on the weekend Joy disappeared. The odometer showed he had driven over 1,287 kilometers. They believed Sean had disposed of his wife’s body about 644 kilometers away. Sean refused to disclose Joy’s body’s location.
Skeleton in the Desert
The search for the body came to a dead end until three months later, on January 10, 2004. Two hikers stumbled upon bones in the desert in Maricopa County, Arizona, 644 kilometers from San Diego. The remaining bones were mixed with arranged rocks resembling a makeshift grave. The teeth and fingers were missing from the skeleton, but DNA testing confirmed it was Joy Risker.
The autopsy confirmed the victim had been stabbed at least 12 times in the chest and suffered a severe facial wound. There were clear signs the killer did not want the body to be identified.
At the 2006 trial, then-38-year-old Sean Goff admitted to killing Joy but claimed it was in self-defense. According to Sean, he showed Joy a photo of her hitting one of their children. Sean said he wanted to end things with Joy and keep the children. The argument escalated, and Joy lunged at him with a knife. In the struggle, he punched her and accidentally stabbed her in a panic. “I couldn’t believe she was dead,” Sean said.
However, the jury didn’t believe Sean’s story. Authorities alleged that seeing Joy intended to end the relationship, Sean persuaded her to meet him for dinner. At their home, he attacked her with a knife. Police said Sean then dismembered Joy in the bathroom, where a large amount of blood was found.
In September 2006, Sean Goff, then 38, was convicted of murder, receiving a sentence of 26 years in prison. According to prison records, he remains incarcerated at Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, California, and will be eligible for parole consideration in December 2024.
